Idi Amin’s son seeks to tell Entebbe victims’ relatives he’s sorry

The son of late Ugandan dictator Idi Amin has told Israeli news site Ynet that he hopes to meet with and apologize to the families of victims of the 1976 hijacking of a flight from Tel Aviv to Paris. Idi Amin allowed the hijackers to land in Uganda, and even personally greeted them.

Israel successfully rescued all but three of the hostages in a commando operation that killed Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, the brother of Israel’s current prime minister.

One of the hostages, a 75-year-old Israeli woman who had been transferred to a hospital, was subsequently killed on the orders of Idi Amin.

Jaffar Amin, 49, is one of Idi Amin’s 60 children. He said he had a message for relatives of victims – that he feels their pain and loss, “despite the fact that on our side, too, 20 Ugandan soldiers, two Germans, and five Palestinians were killed”.

Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu

Jaffar Amin told Ynet that the successful rescue operation weakened his father’s power, forcing him into exile in Libya and Saudi Arabia. He said that his father regretted cutting ties with Israel and forging alliances with Arab countries towards the end of his life.

“Even after the operation he spoke lovingly about Israel,” he said. “He had an obsession with Israel. My father had a love-hate relationship with Israel.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu announced in February that he would visit several African nations, including Uganda, in honor of the rescue operation’s 40th anniversary, which will be this July.